It’s hard to be a Jew and even harder to be the artistic director of a Jewish theater in Los Angeles.
You’d figure the job would be a snap in a city with the second largest Jewish population in the United States, whose wealthy philanthropists support the arts with millions of dollars each year, and where every second waiter and waitress are actors “between engagements.”
Well, just ask Herb Isaacs of the West Coast Jewish Theatre (WCJT), who has guided the institution for the past five years.
A tall, white-haired man with a startling facial resemblance to former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, Isaacs struggles mightily to put on a three-play season on an annual budget of $150,000 to $160,000. Roughly two-thirds of that amount is covered by ticket sales, and the remaining third by donations.
Currently operating out of a rented 99-seat theater, Isaacs dreams of a permanent home for his troupe, and his daily routine is an exercise in multi-tasking.
He speaks longingly of other cities where Jewish theaters enjoy financial support from local federations, such as the Jewish Theatre Collaborative in Portland, Ore., which is subsidized by the city’s Jewish Community Foundation and state university.
The Association for Jewish Theatre lists more than 30 member companies in the United States and Canada. New York City, of course, leads with five theaters, Chicago and San Antonio each have two, but companies also thrive in such unlikely venues as Dunwoody, Ga., York, Penn., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Los Angeles had no permanent Jewish theater until 1993, when Naomi Karz Jacobs “assembled a group of friends with Yiddishkeit and love of theatre in their hearts,” as the official history has it.
The theatre began with staged readings and musical and comedic performances, enlisting such talents as Bea Arthur, Ed Asner, Elliott Gould and Hal Kanter.
However, WCJT, which chooses among some 100 submitted plays each year, did not mount its first full three-play season until 2005-06, during which it scored its greatest hit to date with “Zero Hour.”
The one-man musical about the legendary Zero Mostel won numerous awards and attracted a record attendance of 2,000 patrons. The last three years have seen a steady increase in season subscriptions.
Leading off the 2009-10 season at the Pico Playhouse in West Los Angeles is “The Value of Names” by Jeffrey Sweet, whose cast includes Broadway veterans Peter Mark Richman and Malachi Throne, and actress Stasha Surdyke. Howard Teichman is the director.
The play, set in the early 1980s, focuses on the reunion of a prominent actor, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, with the former friend and director who betrayed him.
“Value of Names” is currently playing through Nov. 22.
The season’s second production is “Leaving Kiev” by Theodore Apstein, the story of a young Jewish couple separated as they flee the Russian Revolution to find a new home in America. The play runs Feb. 5 – March 28, 2010.
Closing the season is “Nightingale in Warsaw,” scheduled to run May 7-June 27. The one-woman show was written by and stars Rebecca Joy Fletcher, and features the songs, in Yiddish and English, of the pre-World War II Warsaw Yiddish Cabaret.
Current performances are Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, with Sunday matinees. For tickets, phone (323) 506-8024, or go to www.wcjt.org.
